"He"s afraid. He"s getting superst.i.tious!" he cried. "What do you think of that, Johnnie?"
"Well," drawled John, "it"s the first time I ever heard of Clark being afraid of any thing."
These words seemed to sting Clark to the quick.
"Will you dance?" said he, in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
I made no answer.
"Curse her! make her dance!" _he_ shouted, starting up from his chair.
"Don"t let her bully you, you fool!"
Clark stepped toward me and laid one heavy hand on mine, while he attempted to pa.s.s the other round my waist. At the horror of his polluting touch all my nature seemed transformed. I started back. There came something like a frenzy over me. I neither knew nor cared what I said.
Yet I spoke slowly, and it was not like pa.s.sion. All that I had read in that ma.n.u.script was in my heart, the very spirit of the murdered Despard seemed to inspire me.
"Touch me not," I said. "Trouble me not. I am near enough to Death already. And you," I cried, stretching out my hand to him, "THUG! never again will I obey one command of yours. Kill me if you choose, and send me after Colonel Despard."
These words seemed to blast and wither them. Clark shrank back. _He_ gave a groan, and clutched the arm of his chair. John looked in fear from one to the other, and stammered with an oath:
"She knows all! Mrs. Compton told her."
"Mrs. Compton never knew it, about the Thug," said he, and then looked up fearfully at me. They all looked once more. Again that fear which I had seen in them before was shown upon their faces.
I looked upon these wretches as though I had surveyed them from some lofty height. That one of them was my father was forgotten. I seemed to utter words which were inspired within me.
"Colonel Despard has spoken to me from the dead, and told me all," said I. "I am appointed to avenge him."
I turned and went out of the room. As I left I heard John"s voice:
"If she"s the devil himself, as I believe she is," he cried, "_she"s got to be took down!_"
I reached my room. I lay awake all night long. A fever seemed raging in all my veins. Now with a throbbing head and trembling hands I write this. Will these be my last words? G.o.d grant it, and give me safe deliverance. Amen! amen!
CHAPTER x.x.x
SMITHERS & CO.
The Brandon Bank, John Potts, President, had one day risen suddenly before the eyes of the astonished county and filled all men with curious speculations.
John Potts had been detestable, but now, as a Bank President, he began to be respectable, to say the least. Wealth has a charm about it which fascinates all men, even those of the oldest families, and now that this parvenu showed that he could easily employ his superfluous cash in a banking company, people began to look upon his name as still undoubtedly vulgar, yet as undoubtedly possessing the ring of gold.
His first effort to take the county by storm, by an ordinary invitation to Brandon Hall, had been sneered at every where. But this bank was a different thing. Many began to think that perhaps Potts had been an ill-used and slandered man. He had been Brandon"s agent, but who could prove any thing against him after all?
There were very many who soon felt the need of the peculiar help which a bank can give if it only chooses. Those who went there found Potts marvelously accommodating. He did not seem so grasping or so suspicious as other bankers. They got what they wanted, laughed at his pleasant jokes, and a.s.sured every body that he was a much-belied man.
Surely it was by some special inspiration that Potts. .h.i.t upon this idea of a bank; if he wished to make people look kindly upon him, to "be to his faults a little blind, and to his virtues very kind," he could not have conceived any better or shorter way toward the accomplishment of so desirable a result.
So lenient were these people that they looked upon all those who took part in the bank with equal indulgence. The younger Potts was considered as a very clever man, with a dry, caustic humor, but thoroughly good-hearted. Clark, one of the directors, was regarded as bluff, and shrewd, and cautious, but full of the milk of human kindness; and Philips, the cashier, was universally liked on account of his gentle, obsequious manner.
So wide-spread and so active were the operations of this bank that people stood astonished and had nothing to say. The amount of their accommodations was enormous. Those who at first considered it a mushroom concern soon discovered their mistake; for the Brandon Bank had connections in London which seemed to give the command of unlimited means, and any sum whatever that might be needed was at once advanced where the security was at all reliable. Nor was the bank particular about security. John Potts professed to trust much to people"s faces and to their character, and there were times when he would take the security without looking at it, or even decline it and be satisfied with the name.
In less than a year the bank had succeeded in gaining the fullest confidence even of those who had at first been most skeptical, and John Potts had grown to be considered without doubt one of the most considerable men in the county.
One day in March John Potts was sitting in the parlor of the bank when a gentleman walked in who seemed to be about sixty years of age. He had a slight stoop, and carried a gold-headed cane. He was dressed in black, had gray hair, and a very heavy gray beard and mustache.
"Have I the honor of addressing Mr. Potts?" said the stranger, in a peculiarly high, shrill voice.
"I"m Mr. Potts," said the other.
The stranger thereupon drew a letter from his pocket-book and handed it to Potts. The letter was a short one, and the moment Potts had read it he sprang up and held out his hand eagerly.
"Mr. Smithers, Sir!--you"re welcome, Sir, I"m sure, Sir! Proud and happy, Sir, to see you, I"m sure!" said Potts, with great volubility.
Mr. Smithers, however, did not seem to see his hand, but seated himself leisurely on a chair, and looked for a moment at the opposite wall like one in thought.
He was a singular-looking old man. His skin was fresh; there was a grand, stern air upon his brow when it was in repose. The lower part of his face was hidden by his beard, and its expression was therefore lost.
His eyes, however, were singularly large and luminous, although he wore spectacles and generally looked at the floor.
"I have but recently returned from a tour," said he, in the same voice; "and my junior partner has managed all the business in my absence, which has lasted more than a year. I had not the honor of being acquainted with your banking-house when I left, and as I had business up this way I thought I would call on you."
"Proud, Sir, and most happy to welcome you to our modest parlor," said Potts, obsequiously. "This is a pleasure--indeed I may say, Sir, a privilege--which I have long wished to have. In fact, I have never seen your junior partner, Sir, any more than yourself. I have only seen your agents, Sir, and have gone on and done my large business with you by writing."
Mr. Smithers bowed.
"Quite so," said he. "We have so many connections in all parts of the world that it is impossible to have the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with them all. There are some with whom we have much larger transactions than yourself whom I have never seen."
"Indeed, Sir!" exclaimed Potts, with great surprise. "Then you must do a larger business than I thought."
"We do a large business," said Mr. Smithers, thoughtfully.
"And all over the world, you said. Then you must be worth millions."
"Oh, of course, one can not do a business like ours, that commands money, without a large capital."
"Are there many who do a larger business than I do?"
"Oh yes. In New York the house of Peyton Brothers do a business of ten times the amount--yes, twenty times. In San Francisco a new house, just started since the gold discoveries, has done a business with us almost as large. In Bombay Messrs. Nickerson, Bolton, & Co. are our correspondents; in Calcutta Messrs. Hostermann, Jennings, & Black; in Hong Kong Messrs. Naylor & Tibbetts; in Sydney Messrs. Sandford & Perley. Besides these, we have correspondents through Europe and in all parts of England who do a much larger business than yours. But I thought you were aware of this," said Mr. Smithers, looking with a swift glance at Potts.
"Of course, of course," said Potts, hastily: "I knew your business was enormous, but I thought our dealings with you were considerable."
"Oh, you are doing a snug business," said Smithers, in a patronizing tone. "It is our custom whenever we have correspondents who are sound men to encourage them to the utmost. This is the reason why you have always found us liberal and prompt."
"You have done great service, Sir," said Potts. "In fact, you have made the Brandon Bank what it is to-day."